June 03, 2012

scone zucca e zenzero con curry / curried pumpkin and ginger scones

Biting on one of these scones brings a pleasant surprise (sorpresa). The combination of curry, candied ginger (zenzero candito), browned butter (burro nocciola), and roasted pumpkin in the background, with just enough sweetness to round all the flavors tickles and satisfies.

I have lost track of how many times I have baked these scones, but I know that the last time was yesterday morning. If you have the ingredients ready, you can mix them while the oven heats up and then you are only 15 minutes away from a satisfactory breakfast. These scones, besides being perfect by themselves, are also exquisite with kefir cheese. And they freeze well, which means that if you can spare a few from each batch, you can easily satisfy a craving for them in the future.

During the fall, I stock on pumpkins and winter squashes of various kinds and the stash lasts until spring. If stored properly, some varieties of pumpkins and winter squashes have a fairly long shelf life.

For example, the beautiy in the photo is a Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin from Neukom Family Farm. I roasted it , then made a great soup and some special scones with it. And when I bake a large pumpkin, I freeze some of it for later use.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper and dust the surface lightly with flour. Take the browned butter out of the fridge and let it slightly soften while you prepare the other ingredients. Finely chop ginger and dried fruit. Measure ingredients number 4 through 11 and put into the food processor fitted with steel blade. Cut butter into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times for several seconds until the flour mix resembles coarse meal.

Pour dry ingredients into a bowl, add ginger and dried fruit and mix with your hands to coat the pieces. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients, then add them to the dry mix. Stir with a spatula until just combined. Turn onto the lined sheet and shape into a 1/2-inch thick square. Dust surface of dough lightly with flour. With a bench scraper, cut into four lengthwise and then crosswise to get 16 small squares. With the help of the bench scraper, separate the pieces, so that they are at least one inch apart. If the corner pieces are much smaller than the rest, join them, so you'll end up with 14 scones of comparable size.

Bake for 15 minutes, then check the bottom of one scone: if it is golden brown, they are ready, otherwise, bake for another two minutes and check again. When ready, move them onto a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

Once cooled completely, the scones can be frozen. When I want to serve them, I put them straight in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes.

Comments

Biting on one of these scones brings a pleasant surprise (sorpresa). The combination of curry, candied ginger (zenzero candito), browned butter (burro nocciola), and roasted pumpkin in the background, with just enough sweetness to round all the flavors tickles and satisfies.

I have lost track of how many times I have baked these scones, but I know that the last time was yesterday morning. If you have the ingredients ready, you can mix them while the oven heats up and then you are only 15 minutes away from a satisfactory breakfast. These scones, besides being perfect by themselves, are also exquisite with kefir cheese. And they freeze well, which means that if you can spare a few from each batch, you can easily satisfy a craving for them in the future.

During the fall, I stock on pumpkins and winter squashes of various kinds and the stash lasts until spring. If stored properly, some varieties of pumpkins and winter squashes have a fairly long shelf life.

For example, the beautiy in the photo is a Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin from Neukom Family Farm. I roasted it , then made a great soup and some special scones with it. And when I bake a large pumpkin, I freeze some of it for later use.

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a piece of parchment paper and dust the surface lightly with flour. Take the browned butter out of the fridge and let it slightly soften while you prepare the other ingredients. Finely chop ginger and dried fruit. Measure ingredients number 4 through 11 and put into the food processor fitted with steel blade. Cut butter into pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse a few times for several seconds until the flour mix resembles coarse meal.

Pour dry ingredients into a bowl, add ginger and dried fruit and mix with your hands to coat the pieces. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients, then add them to the dry mix. Stir with a spatula until just combined. Turn onto the lined sheet and shape into a 1/2-inch thick square. Dust surface of dough lightly with flour. With a bench scraper, cut into four lengthwise and then crosswise to get 16 small squares. With the help of the bench scraper, separate the pieces, so that they are at least one inch apart. If the corner pieces are much smaller than the rest, join them, so you'll end up with 14 scones of comparable size.

Bake for 15 minutes, then check the bottom of one scone: if it is golden brown, they are ready, otherwise, bake for another two minutes and check again. When ready, move them onto a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

Once cooled completely, the scones can be frozen. When I want to serve them, I put them straight in a 350 F oven for 8-10 minutes.

To use any of the photographs published in the blog permission must be obtained from Simona
No food was (nor will ever be) discarded in the process of taking the photographs, i.e., everything was consumed either immediately or in due time